Further content deals with major and independent film studios will be announced as the service spreads across the U.K.

It will compete with BSkyB’s digital video recorder system, Sky Plus, already in half a million of the satcaster’s 7.1 million subscriber homes. While it does not offer VOD, auds can assemble their own viewing schedules including movies.

VOD has been slow to develop in the U.K. due to the lack of technical infrastructure.

Local services are available in London via HomeChoice and in Hull via Kingston Communications. But faster takeup of broadband may change that.